Ellen Tarlin is a former Slate copy chief and writer of the "Clean Plate" blog. Her essays have appeared in the Boston Globe, the Boston Phoenix, Brooklyn Bridge, Bark, and the RISK storytelling podcast. Follow her on Twitter.

Advertisement

I made this cold remedy of boiled water, ginger, garlic, cayenne, honey (first added sugar all month!), and lemon (approximate cost: 25 cents). It has some kick to it, helpful with the throat and sinuses. And it doesn't taste too bad either.

Homemade lentil soup for lunch with celery, carrots, oil, onion, garlic, tomatoes, salt, red wine, red wine vinegar, black pepper, and lemon juice (approximate cost per serving: $1). OK, it wasn't so much soup as just cooked lentils, and it's true: lentil soup is not the prettiest food, but it is good.

Advertisement

This cold has me craving citrus, so I had two Cara Cara oranges (cost: $1.98):

Advertisement

I had a plan for dinner: I planned to make a salad and serve it with hummus and babaganoush, but I wasn't feeling that great, so I changed the plan. I decided to have more soup ($1) and a bit of cheese ($2) and olives (50 cents) and then go to bed.

Total for the day: $8.23.

I'm still eating from last week's groceries, so some of these choices are not as economical as they could be. The plan is to come up with a less pricey shopping list by the end of the week for purchase next week (since we'll be away for the weekend). Stay tuned.